Birdsong Scholarship Creates International Opportunities For Engineering Students
Auburn’s Birdsong Study Abroad Scholarship was created by Fred and Mary Lou Birdsong to provide outstanding engineering students with an opportunity to explore other areas of study while exploring other parts of the world.
Students apply for the scholarship by submitting a detailed description and itinerary of their travel plans in a bound report. The amount of money provided by the scholarship depends on the amount of money requested by the student and the number of students who qualify to receive the scholarship at a given time. Recipients are selected based on grade point average, letters of recommendation and the quality of their proposals.
The scholarship encourages engineering students, who often spend much of their coursework in science 
and math, to broaden their perspectives of other disciplines and the rest of the world. To apply for the scholarship, students are expected to propose courses that contribute to areas of study other than engineering, such as fine arts or history. Students are not limited to Auburn University study abroad opportunities and may choose to go anywhere and study anything as long as the courses they take meet this requirement.
Sarah Nell Jones, a senior in biosystems engineering, decided that her education would not be complete without an experience abroad. While preparing her plan of study, Jones searched the internet for programs that allowed for travel, instead of studying the entire time in one particular place. She found exactly what she was looking for in Eastern Michigan University’s Mediterranean cultural history tour. “I found a program that was just backpacking for five weeks, so that helped me because they already had an itenerary put together. And I knew that I wanted to travel and see things while I was there,” she says.
With the scholarship, Jones spent five weeks backpacking in some of Europe’s most famous cities. Students and professors traveled from Zurich, through Italy’s major cities and finished in Athens. Along the way, Jones and others studied art alongside the original masterpieces and history in the midst of great ruins. When classes were not in session, students were encouraged explore the cities on their own.
Some of Jones’ favorite memories include traveling through the Alps by train, enjoying the ancient and modern architecture in Rome and relaxing on the beaches on the isle of Crete. “Riding through the Alps on that train was just something from a dream world,” she remembers.
Although Jones’ classes were focused on history and art, the knowledge and experience she gained while abroad can also be applied to engineering. Jones now feels more confident in her communication skills and ability to deal with international clients. “I think the biggest thing that I saw about that was how well I could fit into a different culture and different type of environment…I definitely feel like I could go back and live in a lot of the places that I did, and I feel like that gives me a better opportunity, and it opens my mind more to a career with a little bit broader field. I feel like I have a broader worldview, and I have a comparative sense of life as an American and life as a European.”
Jones recommends that any engineering student interested in traveling overseas apply for the scholarship. “We definitely need a balance of arts in our sciences…I would encourage them to pursue that, not only for the benefit of themselves personally, but also for the benefit of their communication skills and their geographic awareness, for things later on when they are working for a company or working with people and consulting others.”
Listen to the podcast below to hear more about the Birdsong Scholarship and Jones’ backpacking adventures.
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